Hot Topics:

Cold weather blasts Boulder, with daytime high of 4 on Wednesday

Thursday's high should be in teens, with chance of snow

By Mitchell Byars and Joe Rubino, Camera Staff Writers

Posted:
02/05/2014 06:10:57 AM MST

Updated:
02/06/2014 11:35:56 AM MST

Five-day forecast
Check out what weather is in store for the Boulder County area hereNational Weather Service
See what the National Weather service is predicting here24-Hour satellite
Watch NOAA's 24-hour satellite image hereReal-time conditions
See what Boulder's weather is like now at the National Center for Atmospheric Research here

How low can you go?

Here is a look at some of the bitterly cold lows reported around Boulder County on Wednesday.

Boulder shivered its way through the day Wednesday as the mercury hit an overnight low of -14 and then only climbed to a high of 4 degrees.

As an Arctic system swept through the Front Range, the city tied the record lowest high for the date, which was officially 6 degrees, set in 1989. Boulder's highest temperature measured Wednesday was actually 4 degrees, meteorologist Matt Kelsch said, but because of the way the weather day is defined, the 6 degree mark measured Tuesday evening counted as the high temperature for Feb. 5.

Boulder didn't get close to its record low for the date, a bone-chilling -24 in 1989.

The Pearl Street Mall was empty for much of the day Wednesday, with outdoor stands opting to skip lunch hour and few shoppers out and about.

Josh Rubi was running the cash register at Ben and Jerry's ice cream shop on Pearl Street and said he expected no customers for the entire day.

"Just not a lot of people who want ice cream right now," he said.

One of the few people out on the pedestrian mall was Rod Bennett, a mail courier for the U.S. Postal Service. Having walked routes in Boulder for the past 25 years with very few off days, Bennett said the post office creed extends to freezing cold.

"You got to get out there and get it done," Bennett said. "Just dress in layers."

Another dedicated employee was Coy Tolman, who was out on the corner of Arapahoe Avenue and 28th Street waving a sign for Great Clips.

"Once you get moving, I mean, it's totally fine," Tolman said. "I was worried this morning because on the news they said this would be the coldest day for this week, but it's not so bad."

Over at the Colorado Athletic Club, a few people were using the club's outdoor pool and hot tub.

"Its actually warmer in the water," said Jen Caines of the heated pool, though she admitted getting out of the pool might be a challenge.

"Yeah ... I was a little surprised this morning when I saw Telluride was warmer than Boulder."

In the outdoor hot tub, Forrest Cason said wasn't worried about the weather as he enjoyed a post-workout soak.

"It's a great day," he said. "Plus, it's, like, 103 degrees in here."

Geoff Hopkins was even still wearing shorts when he stopped to get a post-workout veggie burrito from the Verde Food Truck parked outside Rally Software.

"I just came from spin class, so I'm still pretty warm," Hopkins said as he stood outside waiting for his food.

At a mostly empty Scott Carpenter Park, Michelle Pozek and her two kids Chance, 5, and Brooke, 2, had the park all to themselves.

"They don't seem to mind," Pozek said as her kids played. "We're from Longmont, but they really love this park and they've been cooped up inside for a few days. I saw the sun shining a bit, so we bundled up."

Pozek said they just moved from Arizona, where she and her kids were outside at parks on the opposite end of the temperature spectrum in summer.

"It's not that bad; at least you can bundle up here," she said. "When its 120 degrees, you can't really do much."

Local duo joining overseas exhibition excursionFilippo Swartz went to Italy, where his mother was born and he spent the first year or so of his life, every summer until he had to stick around to be a part of summer football activities for the Longmont High School team. Full Story

MacIntyre says the completed project will be best in Pac-12There were bulldozers, hard hats, mud, concrete trucks, blueprints, mud, cranes, lots of noise and, uh, mud, during the last recruiting cycle when Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre brought recruits to campus. Full Story

Most people don't play guitar like Grayson Erhard does. That's because most people can't play guitar like he does. The guitarist for Fort Collins' Aspen Hourglass often uses a difficult two-hands-on-the-fretboard technique that Eddie Van Halen first popularized but which players such as Erhard have developed beyond pop-rock vulgarity.
Full Story